Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting How long is your deer hunting season?

Just saw a comment in another thread about "draws" for tags and some state having a hunting week instead of a season. Just curious about the norms in different areas of the country.

Here in MS we are over-populated with whitetails. Our early Primitive weapon season starts about mid Nov and between primitive and regular rifle seasons, runs through the end of January. Primitive weapons include 35 Whelen in a single shot, break open rifle. I keep hearing the primitive requirements are going to be dropped altogether this season on private land.

That gives us about 10 weeks of rifle hunting. Bow hunting adds approx another month I think. I'm not much of a bow hunter.

There are overall game limits for deer taken throughout the season, but they are virtually ignored as there is no way for the G&F agencies to keep track. We are not required to tag the animals we harvest. Even with these lax rules, we still have over-population.

So what are the seasons and regs in other areas of the country? I figure us hunters in the south are more fortunate than most.

In Indiana, Bow Season runs from Oct. 1 (though they may change that to Sept 15) to Jan 1. Firearms is the first Saturday after Veteren's Day and runs for two weeks. Muzzleloader only is for 2 weeks, starting a week after gun season ends. Then a special antlerless only season for a week the end of December.

We get to take 1 buck any weapon. Does are pretty much as many as you want with a per hunter quota set by county with the max being 8 per hunter per county. Additional bucks can be taken on state park, military reservation, urban counties, or other special hunts. All but urban are by drawing.

Firearms are a bit restricted. Most use shotgun slug or a muzzleloader. Centerfire rifles can be used as long as the bullet is .357" or bigger and the case shorter than 1.8". Centerfire pistols are pretty much anything bigger than .357 Mag for traditional pistol rounds or most any centerfire rifle rounds with a .243" bullet or larger. Yes, you can use a 300 Win Mag pistol, but not a rifle. Archery season now also included crossbows.

In the part of NC we hunt (Northwest section) bow season opens in September, there is a two week blackpowder season in early November, rifle season opens the third week of November and runs thru January 1st.

We get six tags: 2 Buck and 4 doe and you can purchase all the extra doe tags you want for use on private land for $5.00 each.

bout 125 days or so

If you count both Bucks and Does, we can hunt 365 days a year..

I saw that thread too, supposedly Im in the state with a 'hunting week' The poster was wrong, as is his way�we have five weeks of deer season, and another six or so if you want to count archery.

4 months here in LA. 2 Weeks Primitive, 3 Months Rifle, the rest is Archery only. 6 deer limit, 2 antlered, 3 antlerless, and one either sex. If you hunt DMAP land, you can get additional antlerless tags as well.

This year it's going to run from Sept. 28th (archery opener) to Jan. 4th. I love living in TN!

Mid sept - early January you can hunt deer in Wisconsin.

Idaho in the northern part of the state, 3 weeks for bow and Oct 10-Dec. 1st for rifle. You can only harvest 1.

depending on if you are set up on management or not and what program...

First weekend in OCt give or take, to the first weekend in January. We get some spike/doe weekends that extend towards the end of January.

And then if on management you can start some places Sept 1 with any weapon and go through until mid to end February, probably 2nd or 3rd weekend in February.

For whitetails.

In Wisconsin we have bow season from mid Sept. to the first Sunday in Jan.
Gun seasonis 9 days starting Saturday before Thanksgiving. Then the next day is 10 days of muzzleloader. We have some doe gun weekend hunts in December but with the hard winter we might get rid of some doe seasons.

16 days for the regular rifle season, plus bow and muzzle loader and special stuff. All I care about are the 16.

You draw a single deer tag in New Mexico. If you hunt either rifle or muzzleloader you get 5 days. Archers get either ~24 or ~40 days depending on the unit. In terms of months, the hunting runs from September to January with hunts spread throughout.

Statewide archery (buck and doe) in Pa kicks off around Oct 1 and runs to the middle of November. There is an overlapping weeklong muzzleloader season for antlerless deer, the rifle season (buck and doe) is 2 weeks right after Thanksgiving, and then archery and a Flintlock only season come in for 2 weeks after Christmas.

The special regs area around Philadelphia and Pittsburgh start earlier and run later.

Depending on where you hunt, we can hunt deer from the middle of September to the end of January. No Sundays though. And let's not argue about that in this thread.

Dale

Depends in WY. Many general rifle areas are a week or two for Mule Deer. Some areas in SW Wyoming have had a 3 day season the last few years. Controlled hunts may be up to a month for rifle.

Whitetails in other parts of WY have a much longer season.

Don't know about where you're at, but in most of the western parts of Montana Mule Deer rifle seasons are about 3 weeks long.

Whitetails have the normal 5 weeks.

365 days a year (366 every 4th year)- either sex, no limit.

Expanded archery opens in some zones around September 15th. General archery opens October 1 and runs through November. Rifle season opens usually the last Monday of October or first Monday of November and ends the Saturday after Thanksgiving. In northern Maine, the muzzleloader season begins the following Monday and is open for a week. In southern Maine, muzzleloader runs 2 weeks. I also believe but not 100% sure that in some zones, expanded archery re-opens and runs through the end of December.

That's typical for exotics, Texas is the same way.

CA has Zones. "A" zone which is also know as coastal runs almost the length of the state is 2 bucks fork or better runs second Sat in Aug for 44 days. Some of the zones which are mostly draws run as short as a week or so and have various point restrictions.

I hunt GA and AL.

GA usually starts bow season around mid-September, then ML and rifle start around mid-October. They run until he end of December.

AL usually starts bow season around mid-October, then rifle starts around mid-November. It runs until the end of January.

Between the two I can hunt deer ~4.5 months.

Virginia - First weekend in September to first weekend in January, then the QDM runs into March for many parts of the state.

Most of the season is archery in my area, a month or so of rifle and muzzleloader, then finishing out with archery mostly in QDM. Crossbows are legal in the State.

The license year rolls over on 01 July for the next year. This year will be the first year of Sunday hunting allowed on private lands, used to be 6 days a week only.

Six deer tags are printed as part of your annual license, and more can be purchased.

Oklahoma archery runs from October to mid January. Rifle season runs 2 weeks from the weekend prior to Thanksgiving. Muzzleloading season is one week at the end of October. We have a week in late December for antlerless only.

Perry

15 Sept to 31 Dec for CT archery

archery late sept- mid January. rifle 16 days in november, muzzleloader dec 1-jan 15 or so.

August 2 we start here with bow, south GA closes Jan 31 with a new late bow season. 182 days of hunting deer for me

August 15 to Jan 1 for where I hunt in SC, all gun, doe tags start Sept 15.

Our standard gun season in Iowa is fairly short. 1st season is usually only 5 days (1st Sat in Dec through the next Weds). 2nd gun season is the second Saturday through the next Sunday (9 days). You generally have to choose one or the other. We have a long bow season, though, Oct through Jan. We also have an early muzzleloader season in Oct and a late one in January and some counties have a late January anterless only season for about 2 weeks in January.

My rifle seasons this year will run from Sept. 27th thru Nov. 2nd in my local area and Nov. 1st. thru the 23rd. where I'm going to hunt in the low desert. E

Depends on the zone but usually about 10 days to 2wks for modern gun season.

Bow Season starts mid October and runs through January . Muzzleloader season starts the Monday before rifle season starts in mid November through the end of rifle season . Rifle season is mid November through January . This is for the majority of the state . They have started extending the season for some Southern counties into mid February because of the later rut . This area may be extended this year .

depends where you are in the state and your weapon. If a person wanted to you could hunt from the last week of september till the 3rd week of January. 2 bucks and one doe If you hunt all weapons.If you draw doe tags you can get one or two more depending on the county and in archery only counties you can take quite a few more doe.

With the very long, liberal seasons and bag limits in many states, I can easily see why folks use small caliber rifles for much of their deer shooting.. If you don't get one today, you can always get a couple tomorrow.. Plus it sounds like much of this hunting is on private land with minimum pressure.. That would make for some very enjoyable, relaxed hunting.. If this is your situation, you are a very lucky hunter...

Philly area here. Starts September 20, and I can't be in the woods until the end of January...some days are doe only...depending on the weapon you are using.

In the area of B.C. that I live in we have a rifle season from sept 10th through to Dec 15th. There is a bag limit of 2 bucks.

Warren

I Texas, we have archery starting about Oct first and various deer seasons extending to about the end Feb or middle of March.

In good old Washington State modern firearm for deer is 9 days for either muley or whitetail bucks and you can be drawn for a doe tag in that same period. There is a late buck tag which depending on the area can last from 5 days to 14 days. The game dept. has found another revenue generator, which for $185 you can apply for a multi-season tag which allows you to hunt with a bow, muzzleloader, modern rifle, and then bow again in their seasons.

I knew I moved out of Washington for a reason!
The Deer archery season here in Montana is 43 (fourty three) days long - then on the same tag you can begin to Hunt with firearms (or continue to Hunt with your archery gear!) for 36 (thirty six!) more days!
79 days or so of Deer Hunting this year - I should be able to get'er done in that length of time?
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Oregon has two basic seasons. Rifle Blacktail is about 5 weeks and is an over the counter tag. Muledeer is a draw tag and we get 12 days, which always includes 2 weekends.

Over the counter resident deer season runs June 1- Feb. 28. Around my house it is Sept 10-Dec. 15, and a short drive puts me in an area that opens Sept. 1. Longer drive puts me in the June-Feb season.

Moose, elk, bear, sheep, goats etc. are open at the same time as deer though shorter seasons, so we usually have several non-deer tags in pocket while hunting deer.

In Nebraska this year it will Sept 1 through Jan 15. Depending on weapon.

Eastern N.C. bow season it around Sept 15 thru oct 10 then a week of muzzleloader and gun season starts Oct 15 thru jan. 1, of course one may use bow or muzzle loader durining regular gun season only you must wear hunter orange even if using primitive weapons

Nine month deer season!?! I think we have a winner! Where is this?

South Carolina

The state is divided into several game zones with different schedules. The longest deer season (long guns) runs from August 15th thru January 1. We all wear snake boots the entire season.

Sept 15 til jan 31 for parts of CT

Here at home in Chesterfield VA archery (crossbow) starts 1st Sat in Sept and lasts until last Sat in March. I can hunt right here in the yard or woods beside the house more than half the year. I can only shoot does when the other regular seasons are not in.

I have deer in my yard thru the spring and summer, including huge bucks. I sometimes fantasize about popping one, especially the 5x6 Muley that was in the yard last week. It is funny really, given where I live. Our season is really long here in MT, especially when compared to Utah, where I moved from, like 5 or 6 weeks compared to 3-5 days. I know it is different back East, and a week ago I was reading the regs from VA. Five or six deer!

I hunt in Georgia. Bow season starts September 15th or so and the Northern zone rifle season ends New Years day. We can shoot two bucks, ten antlerless per license.

When I first started the limit was 3. Then 6 I think, then 8, then 12.

After drawing tags and hunting in Montana and this year not drawing antelope in Wyoming and buying a leftover tag, I feel very fortunate to have our generous season and bag limits.

Texas

Taking full advantage of all facets - 5 months

365 days a year. Wait, there is no deer season where I live, so I guess I don't count.

Actually it's not particularly easy deer hunting at present as it's the middle of winter here. The Department of Connservation has been doing its 1080 poison drops in one of my favorite hunting areas. They know the deer are hungry this time of year so they take advantage of that. They claim hunters aren't shooting enough to control the deer numbers especially in the more remote area. They PMO.

In CT if you hunt Archery, Shotgun/Rifle, muzzleloader it's from Sept 15 through Jan 31st.